Micronics Caslon II 600W PSU Review: A Low-Cost Gem?

Reviews
By Aris Mpitziopoulos
published

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Protection Features

Check out our PSUs 101 article to learn more about PSU protection features. Our protection features evaluation methodology is described in detail here.

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Protection Features
OCP12V: ✗5V: >40A (>181.8%), 4.56V, >100mV ripple3.3V: >40A (>181.8%), 3.339V, 92.15mV ripple5VSB: 3.7A (148%), 4.917V
OPP>846.22W (>141.04%)
OTP✓ (140°C @ secondary heat sink)
SCP12V: ✓5V: ✓3.3V: ✓5VSB: ✓-12V: ✓
PWR_OKOperates properly
NLO✓
SIPSurge: MOVInrush: NTC thermistor

Over-power protection is set too high. At around 846W, our first sample's bridge rectifier treated us to some nice fireworks since it couldn't handle the load. We didn't try duplicating this with our second sample, avoiding putting our lab equipment at risk.

OCP on the minor rails seems nonexistent. We dialed up to 40A and called it before something bad happened. Micronics should really ask High Power to fix the OCP and OPP features as soon as possible.


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Aris Mpitziopoulos
Contributing Editor

Aris Mpitziopoulos is a Contributing Editor at Tom's Hardware US, covering PSUs.

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6 Comments Comment from the forums
  • nobspls
    Why would anyone choose this one say over the Corsair CX650M? Which you can get typically for $50.
    Reply
  • Aris_Mp
    Personally I would also take the CX650M in any day of the week, for $50.
    Reply
  • spentshells
    " Not only does this minimize your carbon footprint"

    The idea of conserving electricity is a fallacy, if you use less the people selling can sell more to someone else..... they aren't just holding on to the energy you saved because you're a hero saving the world.

    Making your footprint smaller doesn't matter in the least when someone else's foot print just gets that much bigger.

    Save some money, sure but for how long? The less you use the more they can charge for that smaller amount later on..... that's how it is.


    On a different note, Ill likely try the psu out at one point on a build for someone else.
    Reply
  • rohs42
    > The idea of conserving electricity is a fallacy

    No it isn't. Of course a 100 megawatt generator will not be turned off if someone saves 10 watts of power. But if a 10 million people save 10 watts of power, then of course it will be turned off. And if 100 million people save 10 watts, then there'll be no business case for that new gigawatt power plant.

    As citizens, consumers and voters we all bear a small share of responsibility for the state of the world, and we all have a small part to play in making it better. It's only through working together that humanity improves. Your appeal to helplessness and apathy is pathetic.
    Reply
  • jabliese
    Hey Tom's,

    Once upon a time, we had an extensive brown out at work, which went on for 3 days. On day 2, I was surprised to find many of the PC's that were still working were on 60v power. Over the years, it did not seem to have a adverse affect on any of the power supplies. Lately, I have been wondering what their efficiency numbers looked like during that time, any chance you could add a severe undervolt test to the power supply suite?
    Reply
  • Aris_Mp
    60V is too low. Most PSUs won't even work at such low voltage. I am surprised to hear that the PSUs at your work were working under such conditions for days.

    Efficiency drops along with voltage input. I want to add more protection tests, however I already have enough fails with the current ones. Nonetheless, I am keeping every suggestion under consideration.
    Reply